Applying Late Fees to Past Due Accounts
Late fees in DaySmart Vet can be automatically applied to past due invoices as a one-time fee or as a percentage of the outstanding balance due. The late fee feature is managed under "configurations" in Settings.
Enabling Late Fees
To enable the late fee feature, click on the "edit" icon next to "payment terms."
The form that appears contains two sections. The top half of the form allows you to set your payment terms. This information tells the software when an invoice is due. The bottom half of the form allows you to specify how the late fees should be applied. If you see the fee to be as a fixed amount, then it will only be applied once when the invoice is past due. If you set the fee as a percentage of the balance due, then the fee will be calculated at the frequency you specify. Please note that late fees set as a percentage will continue to apply to the interest amount itself if the invoice continues to remain unpaid.
There are a few other options that are worth noting. First, you can specify whether to start applying the late fee immediately when the invoice becomes due (by setting this value to 0). This option allows you to provide a grace period before applying the late fee.
Second, you can specify whether the late fee should apply to all outstanding invoices, or only those that have a minimum balance. This is useful if you wish to avoid charging late fees on small past due balances.
Finally, if you are enabling this feature for the first time, you can specify whether to apply the late fee to all outstanding invoices or just new ones going forward.
Viewing Late Fees
Late fees will be added to invoices based on your configuration settings (as described above). Any late fee that applies to an invoice will appear in the profile section of the invoice and be added to the invoice total.
You can also view late fees that have been applied to a client's account by navigating to that client's profile, clicking on "billing" and selecting the option to view late fees.
Waiving Late Fees
You can waive late fees that have been applied to an invoice on a case-by-case basis. There are two ways to do this.
First, you can navigate to the applicable invoice, click on "edit invoice" and change the late fee field as desired. Once the changes are saved, the late fee will be waived.
Second, you can waive late fees from the client's profile. To do so, please view the Exempting clients from taxes, late fees, or billing statements article.